Oil slick drifts toward California coast
September 29, 1997
Web posted at: 8:29 p.m. EDT (0029 GMT)
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- At least 10,000 gallons of oil spilled
from an undersea pipe on Monday near Santa Barbara County in
Southern California.
As of Monday afternoon, the slick was 1.5 miles offshore and
drifting toward land. It was expected to reach shore late
Monday, according to Alexia Retallack of the California
office of Oil Spill Prevention and Recovery.
The slick was estimated to be two miles wide and four miles
long. Officials say it contains between 10,000 and 20,000
gallons of oil.
Specially equipped boats were working the slick, using booms
to prevent the oil from further spreading.
Local fishing boats were pitching in and helping authorities
transport oil-fighting supplies, officials said.
Favorable weather conditions -- low winds, calm seas and
bright sunshine -- were helping cleanup efforts.
A team of about 35 workers waited on shore for the slick to
arrive, Retallack said.
The pipeline that officials believe is the cause of the slick
runs between an offshore oil-pumping platform and an oil
field in Lompoc, California. The pipeline was shut down after
a low pressure alarm sounded.
"We'll have divers go perform an inspection of the leak to
determine how we can fix it," said Art Boehm, a spokesman for
Torch Operating Co., the company running the oil platform.
Torch reported the spill. The platform is owned by Nuevo
Energy and Bellweather Exploration, both headquartered in
Houston.
The slick was headed toward a part of Vandenberg Air Force
Base's 35-mile coastline.
Air Force officials said they were concerned about the
environmental threat and impact on the base's wildlife.
There were no reports of injured wildlife or estimates of the
long-term environmental effects of the spill.
"We consider any oil spill to be a major incident," Boehm
said.
Reuters contributed to this report.